Transcript endangered_speciesx - British Council Schools Online

Endangered
Species
Endangered Species in Sri Lanka
Green Turtle
• Out of the seven species of sea turtle found
worldwide, five can be found right here in Sri
Lanka.
• The green turtle is one of them and is the
most widespread of the turtle species.
• As one of the largest sea turtles these
monsters often grow up to 1.5m in length and
weigh up to 200kg – that about the same
weight as 3.5 adults.
• A female green turtle will journey back to the same beach
every 2-5 years to lay her eggs, often thousands of
kilometres.
• She can lay up to 9 clutches each containing around 100150 eggs.
• Using her back flippers to dig a deep hole in the sand, she
buries them for protection.
• After 45 – 70 days the babies hatch and make a dash for the
sea. Unlike other turtles, all adults are herbivores, feeding
mostly on marine grasses and algae. Their young however
are omnivores – meaning they eat both plants and other
sea life, including jellyfish and molluscs.
• Green turtles are an endangered species.
• They are relentlessly hunted for their meat
and eggs and often die when caught up in
fishing nets.
• The destruction and pollution of their habitats
and nest sites also reduces their numbers.
• Sri Lankan Frogmouth
• This animal is actually a bird found in the
dense tropical forests of Sri Lanka and parts of
India.
• The name frogmouth describes the bird’s
wide head and gaping mouth which it uses to
catch insects.
• The females are often a red colour with white
freckles, and the males are greyer with even
more white freckles.
• They are nocturnal, meaning they only come
out at night.
• During the day they sleep perfectly
camouflaged upon forest branches, as a result
they are notoriously difficult to spot.
• Sri Lankan frogmouths build their nests in the
forked branches of trees anywhere between 2
and 12 m off the ground.
• A very unusual characteristic of this bird is that it only
lays one egg! The single white egg is incubated by both
parents, with the male sitting on the egg during the
day and the female at night. Once hatched the chick is
looked after by the parents for three weeks before
flying the nest.
•
The main threat to these birds is habitat loss. The
forests they live in are being destroyed to make way for
tea and crop plantations.
Endangered Species in India
• White-bellied heron
• The white-bellied heron (Ardea insignis), also
known as the imperial heron or great whitebellied heron, is a species of large
heron found inthe foothills of the
eastern Himalayas in India,north
eastern Bangladesh, Burma, Bhutan and Nepal
.
• It is mostly dark grey with a white throat and
underparts..
• This heron is mostly solitary and is found on
undisturbed riverside or wetland habitats.
• The global population has declined and the
species is threatened by disturbance and
habitat degradation.
• The species is currently listed as Critically
Endangered by the IUCN
• This large heron is plain dark grey above with
a long neck.
• The crown is dark and there are no black
stripes on the neck as in the grey heron.
• In breeding plumage, it has a greyish-white
nape plume and elongated grey breast
feathers with white centers.
• The bill is black, greenish near the base and
tip and the face is greenish grey.
• Red Panda
• The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), also
called lesser panda, red bear-cat, and red catbear, is a small arboreal mammal native to the
eastern Himalayas and
southwestern China that has been classified
as endangered by the IUCN[1 as its wild
population is estimated at less than 10,000
mature individuals.
• The population continues to decline and is
threatened by habitat
loss and fragmentation, poaching,
and inbreeding depression, although red
pandas are protected by national laws in their
range countries.
• The red panda is slightly larger than a domestic
cat.
• It has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a
waddling gait due to its shorter front legs.
• It feeds mainly on bamboo, but is omnivorous,
and also eats eggs, birds, insects, and
small mammals. It is a solitary animal,
mainly active from dusk to dawn, and is
largely sedentary during the day.
Endangered Species in China
• Pere David's deer
• Pere David's deer, the rare animal, was first
found in China more than 2,000 years ago.
This wetland species was known for its unique
appearance.
• It had a camel's neck, a donkey's tail, cow-like
hooves and stag antlers. Chinese often called
this strange creature Sibuxiang - Four Unlikes.
• According to the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCN), Pere David'deer is extinct in the wild.
• All present population live in captivity.
• Captive Pere David's Deers now number more
than 1600 in China.
• The deer became extinct in China at the turn of
the 20th century and it wasn't until 1985 that 22
of them returned from Britain.
• They had been kept at Woburn Abbey by the
dukes of Bedford.
• The Pere David's deer originally inhabited in
northeastern and east-central China, but it
apparently became extinct in the wild at least
1000 years ago. Hunting is thought to have been
the main reason for the decline of the wild Pere
David's deer.
• Black-Necked Crane
• The scientific name of Black-Necked Crane is
Grus Nigricollis (Latin), and belongs to the
Gruidae family of Gruiformes order.
• Black-necked Crane is a large-size wading
bird, with a full body-length of around 120
centimeters.
• The color of its body ranges from silver gray to
approximately white, with dotted brown
brims.
• Black-Necked Crane has been listed as
vulnerably endangered by International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources (IUCN) in 1994.
• In China, there are 3,562 birds in Yunnan and
western Guizhou in 2003 and 6940 of them in
Tibet in 2007.
• Black-necked Crane usually hibernates in
Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and
breeds in Tibet, Qinghai and Gansu provinces
in China and the bird can also be found in
countries including Bhutan, India and
Vietnam.
• It is the only crane species growing and
breeding in tableland, inhabiting in plateaus at
an elevation of 2,500 to 5,000 meters.
Endangered Species in Australia
• Woylie
• Endemic to Australia and super-rare, woylies
were once spread across 60 percent of the
mainland, found commonly in eastern
Australia, South Australia, north-west Victoria
and central New South Wales during the early
to mid-19th century.
• Soon after the turn of century, things went
pear-shaped for these furry little macropods,
and the species was reportedly extinct across
most of its range by 1920.
• By the 1990s, just a handful of woylies were
left, and today they now inhabit just 1 per
cent of the mainland, persisting in six little
pockets of land in Western Australia, two in
South Australia, and on three little islands just
off the coast. They are currently on the IUCN
Red List as Critically Endangered.
• Short nosed sea snake
• The short-nosed sea snake grows up to 60cm
long, is relatively slender and has a small head.
• The species is brown in colour with purple to
brown patterns, and scales on the body overlap
one another.
• The sea snake sheds its skin every two to six
weeks, and rids excess salt from the sea water
through a gland that is located under the tongue.
• Like other sea snakes, the species must come
to the surface to breathe;
• However, it can spend up to two hours under
water.
• Gas (oxygen/carbon dioxide) exchange is
managed by the snake's single lung, which is
nearly the length of its body.
• It is thought the species has a life span of 8-10
years, with a generation length of around five
years.
• The snake gives birth to live young, with a
gestation period of six to seven months.
• Eels and small fish make up the sea snake's
diet.
Endangered Species in Africa
• Addax Antelope
• The addax is a large antelope with long and
thin spiral horns with two and sometimes
three twists.
• Its coat is grayish brown in the winter and
changes to nearly white in the summer.
• There is a patch of black hair on its forehead
and it has a black tuft on its tail.
• The average length of the addax is around 5
feet and it has a shoulder height of around 3
feet.
• The addax is a desert creature and hardly ever
needs water except from the drops of water it
gets from eating plants.
• The addax prefers to travel through the desert
at night in search of sparse vegetation in the
desert that manages to grow during rainfall.
• They are able to thrive in the desert with no
water source.
• They are only found in northeastern Niger,
northern Chad, and along the
Mauritanian/Mali border.
• Little is known about its reproductive biology
in the wild.
• It is believed that the female gives birth to one
calf after a gestation period of 8 to 9 months.
• Excessive hunting for its flesh and hide seems
to be the main cause of decline for the addax.
• Black Rhinoceros
• The black rhinoceros is one of the two species
of rhinoceros found in Africa.
• The skin of the black rhinoceros is gray and
not black as its common name may suggest.
• Its skin may sometimes appear black after its
daily mud bath in black or brown marshy
areas.
• The mud helps keep insects off and keeps the
rhinos cool in the hot African climate.
• The black rhino can weigh from 2000 to 4000
lb, though it can move very quickly (up to 35
mph) when ready to charge, and can reach a
body length of 9 to 12 feet.
• Rhinos have poor vision but a good sense of
smell.
• The black rhinoceros eats mostly leaves, young
shoots and twigs.
• Breeding occurs year-round, but most births
occur during the rainy season.
• Males wonder alone until it is time to breed or
when wallowing in waterholes with other rhinos.
• The female gives birth to only one calf after a
gestation period of 15 to 18 months. The calf
remains with the mother for up to three years.
•These are few
Endangered Species
in 5 countries.